Trust \Trust\, n. [OE. trust, trost, Icel. traust confidence,
security; akin to Dan. & Sw. tr["o]st comfort, consolation,
G. trost, Goth. trausti a convention, covenant, and E. true.
See True, and cf. Tryst.]
1. Assured resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity,
justice, friendship, or other sound principle, of another
person; confidence; reliance; reliance. "O ever-failing
trust in mortal strength!" --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Most take things upon trust. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
2. Credit given; especially, delivery of property or
merchandise in reliance upon future payment; exchange
without immediate receipt of an equivalent; as, to sell or
buy goods on trust.
[1913 Webster]
3. Assured anticipation; dependence upon something future or
contingent, as if present or actual; hope; belief. "Such
trust have we through Christ." --2 Cor. iii. 4.
[1913 Webster]
His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed
Equal in strength. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
4. That which is committed or intrusted to one; something
received in confidence; charge; deposit.
[1913 Webster]
5. The condition or obligation of one to whom anything is
confided; responsible charge or office.
[1913 Webster]
[I] serve him truly that will put me in trust.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Reward them well, if they observe their trust.
--Denham.
[1913 Webster]
6. That upon which confidence is reposed; ground of reliance;
hope.
[1913 Webster]
O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth. --Ps.
lxxi. 5.
[1913 Webster]
7. (Law) An estate devised or granted in confidence that the
devisee or grantee shall convey it, or dispose of the
profits, at the will, or for the benefit, of another; an
estate held for the use of another; a confidence
respecting property reposed in one person, who is termed
the trustee, for the benefit of another, who is called the
cestui que trust.
[1913 Webster]
8. An equitable right or interest in property distinct from
the legal ownership thereof; a use (as it existed before
the Statute of Uses); also, a property interest held by
one person for the benefit of another. Trusts are active,
or special, express, implied, constructive, etc. In a
passive trust the trustee simply has title to the trust
property, while its control and management are in the
beneficiary.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
9. A business organization or combination consisting of a
number of firms or corporations operating, and often
united, under an agreement creating a trust (in sense 1),
esp. one formed mainly for the purpose of regulating the
supply and price of commodities, etc.; often,
opprobriously, a combination formed for the purpose of
controlling or monopolizing a trade, industry, or
business, by doing acts in restraint or trade; as, a sugar
trust. A trust may take the form of a corporation or of a
body of persons or corporations acting together by mutual
arrangement, as under a contract or a so-called
gentlemen's agreement. When it consists of corporations it
may be effected by putting a majority of their stock
either in the hands of a board of trustees (whence the
name trust for the combination) or by transferring a
majority to a holding company. The advantages of a trust
are partly due to the economies made possible in carrying
on a large business, as well as the doing away with
competition. In the United States severe statutes against
trusts have been passed by the Federal government and in
many States, with elaborate statutory definitions.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Syn: Confidence; belief; faith; hope; expectation.
[1913 Webster]
Trust deed (Law), a deed conveying property to a trustee,
for some specific use.
[1913 Webster]
|